Deborah McArthur, Nature Connection: Our local wild turkeys

Thursday afternoons at the Museum of Natural History is our weekly Natural History Storytime, or also known as "Nat Time."

In the back room of the museum, under the broad wings of a golden eagle, the fixed gaze of a poised mountain lion, and in front of two wily coyotes, children and families listen to stories, sing songs, and connect with nature through museum artifacts and specimen.

November-appropriate, the theme is wild turkeys. "Old McDonald had a forest, E-I-E-I-O. And in that forest there was a WILD TURKEY, E-I-E-I-O." We talk about how local wild turkeys are much different from their domestic, farm-bred counterparts.

Wild turkeys are powerful and intelligent. Remember, Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird instead of the bald eagle. He claimed they are "much more respectable birds." Wild turkeys can stretch their long, slender necks to reach 4 feet tall. They are powerful flyers. With a wingspan up to 6 feet, they are able fly 50 mph. They are fast runners, reaching speeds of up to 25 mph.

Mottled feathers allow the foraging birds to blend in well with the patchy light in the forest.

The birds are commonly observed scratching in the duff for insects, seeds, acorns and mushrooms. They travel in family flocks, or flocks of older males.

They roost overnight in the trees, away from predators such as coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and opossums. Only in the early winter and spring as a mating ritual, do the male "toms" puff up their body feathers, spread their tails into fans and make their "gobble" call.

Turkeys were not in California during European settlement. The native turkey's range during colonial times was only as far west as Wisconsin, and south to Arizona. There is evidence though that a now extinct species of turkey was abundant during the Pleistocene Epoch, 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

In the early part of the century, the national turkey population was alarmingly low -- a 10th of its original population, as few as 30,000 birds in the U.S.

Game managers made efforts to set up preserves, limit hunting and reintroduce wild stock to new places. The first reports of introducing wild turkeys to California are in 1877. A recent estimate of the California turkey population is around 242,000 birds. And the U.S. population: 7 million. E-I-E-I-O.

Join us at the museum for our December weekly Nat Time programs. Themes for the month include: snowflakes, bears and hibernation and winter solstice. For information, go to santacruzmuseums.org.

Deborah McArthur is the education manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, a nonprofit organization that provides education programs to school groups and the public. Visit www.santacruzmuseums.org.